SEO, Keywords, and Backlinks ~ I just don't get it yet!

Now that I have been writing for a little over one month, I realize that it takes more than key strokes and ideas to make money. I have been researching (or at least trying to) Search Engine Optimization (SEO), keywords, and backlinks, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around all of it.  I'd like to think I am a reasonably intelligent woman and I absorb information fairly easily, but this has me a little stumped.

My attention span seems to be a major part of the problem.  I typically don't find technical things very interesting, so all this talk of spiders and rankings is not exactly music to my ears. Another thing that is posing a challenge for me is that I have been searching the web for this information, but I think I'm going about it all wrong.  I need to go old school...I need a book.  I need to physically hold a book in my hand, highlight pages, and bend corners.  I need to use sticky notes and scribble in the margins.  I need to be able to run my fingers along the words so that I can absorb them through osmosis.  This may sound crazy and a bit "pre-webstoric,"  but I'm no spring chicken!

So I will soon be taking a field trip to my local bookstore.  This is not a matter of just learning something new for fun, learning this information will mean the difference between becoming successful or not.  I'm in it to win it!